Compared to other initiatives, the Climate Valley Initiative does not cover large-scale projects for carbon-reduction or address high ranking governmental agencies, large industries, or experts on one hand, or individual local initiatives on the other side of the scale, but instead would like to build a bridge between these mostly separately operating networks, by working from a bottom-up perspective and using the local initiatives as a starting point to achieve greater goals.

The basic idea on how “Climate Valley” wants to contribute towards carbon reduction and sustainability, is that a large number of bottom-up, small initiatives will, both in the short and long run, contribute just as much (or even more) as the also necessary agreements between (national) governments and large-scale carbon reduction projects and innovations, initiated by multinational businesses, universities etc.

Similar to Silicon Valley and “Valley” initiatives in the Netherlands such as Food, Health and Energy Valley, each “Climate Valley” will cover the “quadrupel helix”and consist of governmental agencies, NGOs and (individual) local initiatives, knowledge centres and individual experts, and business representatives, working closely together to create an innovative environment where new ideas and projects are being developed.

There however is one striking difference – where the other Valleys are (originally) created to become more competitive compared to other regions, the key of Climate Valley is to cooperate and share knowledge and innovative ideas between all “Valleys”, rather than compete!  The common platform function therefore is an essential feature of the Climate Valley Network, its network organisation acting as an umbrella, stimulating exchange of knowledge and ideas, and supporting (joint) projects.